scispace - formally typeset
Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

Right Ventricular Function in Cardiovascular Disease, Part I Anatomy, Physiology, Aging, and Functional Assessment of the Right Ventricle

Francois Haddad, +3 more
- 18 Mar 2008 - 
- Vol. 117, Iss: 11, pp 1436-1448
TLDR
The goal of the present review is to offer a clinical perspective on RV structure and function, using echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging to create new opportunities for the study of RV anatomy and physiology.
Abstract
In 1616, Sir William Harvey was the first to describe the importance of right ventricular (RV) function in his seminal treatise, De Motu Cordis : “Thus the right ventricle may be said to be made for the sake of transmitting blood through the lungs, not for nourishing them.”1,2 For many years that followed, emphasis in cardiology was placed on left ventricular (LV) physiology, overshadowing the study of the RV. In the first half of the 20th century, the study of RV function was limited to a small group of investigators who were intrigued by the hypothesis that human circulation could function adequately without RV contractile function.3 Their studies, however, were based on an open pericardial dog model, which failed to take into account the complex nature of ventricular interaction. In the early 1950s through the 1970s, cardiac surgeons recognized the importance of right-sided function as they evaluated procedures to palliate right-heart hypoplasia. Since then, the importance of RV function has been recognized in heart failure, RV myocardial infarction, congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. More recently, advances in echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging have created new opportunities for the study of RV anatomy and physiology. The goal of the present review is to offer a clinical perspective on RV structure and function. In the first part, we discuss the anatomy, physiology, aging, and assessment of the RV. In the second part, we discuss the pathophysiology, clinical importance, and management of RV failure. ### Macroscopic Anatomy of the RV In the normal heart, the RV is the most anteriorly situated cardiac chamber and lies immediately behind the sternum. In the absence of transposition of great arteries, the RV is delimited by the annulus of the tricuspid valve and by the pulmonary valve. As suggested by Goor and Lillehi,4 the RV can be described in …

read more

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Guidelines for the Echocardiographic Assessment of the Right Heart in Adults: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography

TL;DR: This activity is designed for all cardiovascular physicians and cardiac sonographers with arest and knowledge base in the field of echocardiography and reschers, clinicians, intensivists, and other medical professionals with a spein cardiac ultrasound will find this activity beneficial.
Journal ArticleDOI

The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation Guidelines for the care of heart transplant recipients

Maria Rosa Costanzo, +56 more
TL;DR: Institutional Affiliations Chair Costanzo MR: Midwest Heart Foundation, Lombard Illinois, USA Task Force 1 Dipchand A: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Ontario, Canada; Starling R: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Starlings R: University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois,USA; Chan M: university of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ; Desai S: Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Virginia, USA.
Journal ArticleDOI

Recommendations for quantification methods during the performance of a pediatric echocardiogram: a report from the Pediatric Measurements Writing Group of the American Society of Echocardiography Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Council.

TL;DR: This educational activity is designed for all cardiovascular physicians and cardiac sonographers with erest and knowledge base in the field of echocardiography; in addition, reschers, clinicians, intensivists, and other medical professionals with a cardiac ultrasound will find this activity beneficial.
Journal ArticleDOI

Pulmonary arterial hypertension

TL;DR: The current state of art regarding to epidemiologic aspects of PH, diagnostic approaches and the current classification of PH are discussed as well as future treatments.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Plasma Brain Natriuretic Peptide as a Prognostic Indicator in Patients With Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

TL;DR: In this paper, the prognostic significance of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level increases in proportion to the degree of right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary hypertension.
Journal ArticleDOI

Exercise intolerance in adult congenital heart disease: comparative severity, correlates, and prognostic implication.

TL;DR: Exercise capacity is depressed in ACHD patients (even in allegedly asymptomatic patients) on a par with chronic heart failure subjects and is related to the frequency and duration of hospitalization.
Journal ArticleDOI

Mechanoelectrical interaction in tetralogy of Fallot. QRS prolongation relates to right ventricular size and predicts malignant ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death.

TL;DR: Chronic right ventricular volume overload after tetralogy of Fallot repair is related to diastolic function and correlated with QRS prolongation and the risk of symptomatic arrhythmia is high when markedright ventricular enlargement and QRS prolongedation develop.
Journal Article

Plasma brain natriuretic peptide as a prognostic indicator in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension

TL;DR: A high level of plasma BNP, and in particular, a further increase in plasma B NP during follow-up, may have a strong, independent association with increased mortality rates in patients with PPH.
Journal ArticleDOI

Normal human right and left ventricular mass, systolic function, and gender differences by cine magnetic resonance imaging.

TL;DR: Normative MRI data are presented that can be used for comparing individual patients and for further study of right and left ventricular interaction and agreement with published autopsy series was excellent.
Related Papers (5)